The
primary audience for this article titled “The Politics of the Program: MS Word
as the Invisible Grammarian” written by Tim McGee and Patricia Ericsson are English
teachers, language arts teachers, literary specialist, students, and users of Microsoft Word Grammar Checker (MSGC). The
purpose of this article is to bring awareness to composition teachers that the MSGC software has limits in its designs and context and how it may have an effect on a student’s writing performance. The
authors basically critique the software since so many writing
students are users of this software. The authors’ exigence to share this
article centers around how can composition teachers minimize the harm MSGC could cause on the writing process. The software is designed by computational
linguists, not by teachers of writing.
This proses a concern for teachers who allow their student to use this
technology (MSGC) in their classroom, because of the widespread availability of
this program to writing students. Unfortunately,
the MS Word grammar checker can be a hindrance to early in the composing
process, because the program corrects the users work while the writer is in
their drafting stage and the program has gaps in the its grammar artificial
intelligence. Personally, MSGC has helped me in my writing. I find the spelling and grammar checker very
useful and its suggestions help improve my writing. As far as manipulating the
program to work for me, I have not done so. I basically have left all the
default setting in place and just use what the program offers. I believe
teachers should not require MSGC for all writing at the elementary level. Young writers should have the freedom to
write freely without having to think about spelling or sentence structure. Grammar
and structure can be corrected over time, but over correcting a student during
their writing process can hinder their confidence to write.
I’m not so sure that I agree with the authors of the paper when they say that MSGC is harmful to students. I think that having a grammar check while you’re still in the drafting process helps the final outcome of the paper. That way, you don’t have to do as much editing after you finish writing. I personally love how helpful MSGC is when I’m writing papers!
ReplyDeleteI agree with your assertion that the MSGC does help its users to improve their writing to a certain extent. I have similar experiences with grammar checker as it sometimes can reveal simple mistakes that you have overlooked while revising and I tend to leave it as is. I also can see your point about not requiring MSGC for elementary aged kids. Teaching children a love of writing first is more essential than bogging them down in the rules of grammar and potentially damaging their willingness to write.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your post and I agree with your closing statement. I don't think that MSGC should be implicated any further into the elementary level and we should not rely on it in our educational system. Another thing that stood out to me in your post was the way you explained how the purpose of this piece is "to bring awareness to composition teachers that the MSGC software has limits in its designs and context and how it may have an effect on a student’s writing performance." This sentence intrigued me specifically because you used the word "limits." Previously I hadn't necessarily thought of it this way. To me MSGC was just a crutch we relied too heavily on, but after looking through the lens of it "limiting" our students, I can see that it not only hinders a writer's growth, it confines it.
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